Game of Life
by Kamui2011
Summary: It was a game, and he was damn good at it. But then he is transported into another world. His avatar is the same, his abilities are the same, and yet, everything is different. Every action has consequences, killing isn t as clean, death means permanent game over, the demon king s ressurection is at hand. Magic, knights, elves, demons, dragons, gods. The greatest game of all begins.
1. Prolog:Campfire tale

**Author´s note:** A story about a man, who is transported into another world, but with his game character.  
Influenced by works with the same story like Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, Overlord and the like. Influenced, but apart the idea of the game becoming reality has nothing in common, not the same universe, not the same character and definitly not the same writer skill ;P

 **Prolog: Campfire tale**

Shana watched the men around the fires as he walked trough the camp, the tension thick in the air. Everyone who saw him greeted him with respect and he replied with a soft smile. They were nervous, and so was he, but he tried not to show it. He could not show it, for their hopes lied with him, the hope to defeat the demon king.

`Poor people´ he tought to himself, to be caught in this cycle. Every thousand years the demon king would return and every thousand years the people would face a new crisis. A normal human had no chance to defeat the demon king, even the strongest among them could only face lower demon lords, but luckily he was not a normal human.

He was the hero, summoned to this medieval fantasy world trough the ancient hero summoning ritual, passed down in the royal family since the time of the ancient hero king Yamato three thousand years ago. The chosen warrior of god, the one blessed with the power to defeat the demon king. And the only way for humans to prosper.

Shana steeled his resolve, this was not his world, but nonetheless, he had to win, the consequences if he would lose were disastrous, because if the hero would not defeat the demon king, then the dragons would fight the demons, the two races mortal enemies since ancient times. But one should be very clear about the situations: the dragons were fighting against the demons, but not for the humans, and as such, cared little for the casualities humanity or the other races suffered. Kingdoms had died when those two powerful races clashed against each other.

That was the reason why the hero was so important. Only he could defeat the demon king and prevent the dragons from acting, protecting the humans from the wrath and power of both races. And with the hero, the human kingdoms could prosper.

Carefree laugther caught his attention. He was surprised. The battle would start soon, and yet, some people managed to shrug off the tension, they were more fit to be hero than him, he tought to himself. Intrigued, he followed the sound.

It didn´t take him long to find the source, a campfire with soldiers. Nothing out of order so far, except the one person who was sitting with them. He seemed not to be a soldier, because he was not armed or armored, and yet, the soldiers seemed to accept him.

One of the soldiers noticed him and instantly stood at attention. "Lord Hero!" The others turned towards him and repetead the action. Even the stranger stood up. "No need to be so formal" Shana laughed it of embarrased, he was still not used to all this respect. A few months ago he was a simple salesman. "So this is the hero, huh?" the stranger asked. Shana checked him with his Hero Eye. It was an ability that allowed him to see the `Status´ of people, with name, level and the like. Like a real rpg, he tought to himself.

Name: Arthur  
Level 8  
Bard

So the stranger was a travelling bard. "Have we met somewhere?" "Please forgive my rudeness. I was just surprised to see the legendary hero." "Legendary, isn´t that a bit much?" "No need to be so humble, Lord Hero" one of the soldiers said, "after you have defeated the demon king you will be known troughout all the surrounding kingdoms."

Shana tried not to think about that. He was already know troughout the kingdoms. He quickly tried to change the topic. "Would you mind if i were to sit with you?" "But of course not, it is a high honor that the legendary hero sits with simple soldiers like us."

After he sat himself, and insisted to be called by his name and that no formalities were needed, the men quickly returned to their carefree mood and resumed their idle talk. Shana listend to them. This men were still nervous, but by far not as much as the rest, or he himself. "Is Lord Hero...Shana, a fan of books by chance?" Arthur asked. Shana was surprised, just what made him think that? His surprise was apparently showing on his face, as Arthus began to chuckle softly and then pointed at the book Shana was holding. He could feel his face redding. "May i see it?" Arthur asked politely. Shana was surprised again. Not many people in this world were able to write and read, but apparently this bard was able to do so.

After a moment of hesitation, he handed Arthur the book. And surprise washed over the stranger´s face. "Is something wrong with the book?" Shana asked. "No, nothing, I was just surprised. I haven´t seen one of those in what seems to be an eternity. I admit I had expected the hero to read books about the former heroes or the ancient king Yamato, but not this kind of fairytale."

"Fairytale? I was told that it was true." "So people still remember..." Arthur murmured softly to himself, and if not for Shana´s high perception skill he surely would have missed it. Arthur handed the book back to Shana. Arthur´s next words surprised him. "Tell me, does the Lord Hero believe what is written in this book?" Shana tought for a moment. "Well, some things seems hard to believe, but I actually had no reason to thought it a lie." "Is that so" Arthur chuckled softly again and leaned back. Shana could feel his eyes on himself, like he was thinking, assessing him.

Shana was sure, this was the most rude gesture he had experiencing in this world so far. Since his summoning everyone treated him with utmost respect, they knew how important he was, he was the chosen hero after all. Others were afraid of him. Not only for his immense power, that surpassed every other human in the surrounding kingdoms. But also for his political influence and his good relationship with the royal family. Everyone was trying his hardest to make sure not to displease him. And yet, Arthur seemed not to care in the slightest. Shana was nervous. And then Arthur surprised him once more.

"Tell me, does Lord Hero want to know the truth?" "The truth?" Silence surrounded him. The soldiers´ talk had died as all were surprised by the turn of events, and waited for his answer. He was the hero, there was only one answer. "I want to know the truth." Arthur chuckled softly.

"Very well, let me tell you the true story of the one called Arashmiel."


	2. Chapter 1:Something ends

**Chapter 1: Something ends**

The stars sparkled and the moon illuminated the area, a single person stood on the balcony of a tower. Even the howling of wolves could not disturb the fake calm he felt. The white cloak that covered him fluttered in the wind. He wanted to feel it, all of it, to absorb it all in himself. It would be the last time. He turned around and walked inside, it was almost time. While walking he was sunken in thoughts.

Ilyria Online was one of the most famous virtual massive multiplayer online role play games, or vmmorpgs for short. Ilyria allowed players to design characters, items, even residences with own npcs. This amazing degree of customization made it stand out among others of it´s kind.

His eyes wandered along the walls. Yes, the entire fortress-city of Yggdrasil was build by players. An alliance of multiple guilds changed the entire landscape and created an own fortress.

Here, he was Arashmiel the Blue Beast, guild leader of `Aurora Company Elite Dangerous´, or `ACED´ one of the top 10 european guilds. Nothing of that mattered anymore.

The almost empty halls did not surprise him. After long and successful years the servers would shut down, it was the last day. He stopped and looked at his reflexion in the mirror.

He appeared to be 18 years old, his hair was jet black and green eyes. A scar ran across his face. It started next his right eye, and ran diagonally over the bridge of his nose, and ended below his left eye. Other than that, he appeared plain, almost boring.

His eyes wandered to his clothing. His armor, consisted of a breastplate, shoulder pads, greaves and gauntlets. His upper arms and legs were covered by chainmail, allowed for more mobility than the bulky full plate armor, but also did not provide as much defense. The armor was blue and richly ornamented, and was normally covered by a white cloak. Only when he fought he pushed it back and the cloak became a cape. He smiled, things you could do with magic. On the guild tabard was the emblem of ACED, a sword with 6 wings. On his head he wore a blue military beret.

He smiled, he had invested lots of time in his avatar and spent lots of time as his avatar, and was pretty satisfied with him, despite his plain look.

Most players designed their avatar to be flashy goodlooking, impossible in real life. Who could blame them? No one wanted to play as an ugly avatar. Others were somewhat more serious about the game, that designed their avatar as handsome, but not ridiculous. But he himself saw no point in it, this game was mostly about defeating monsters and clearing dungeons, this was not a dating sim. But then again, he had to admit, he had sometimes given in to a beautiful female avatar.

He walked into one of the greater halls and a pair of maids were cleaning. "Keep up the good work" he said, a joke to himself. The maids did not respond, and he did not expected it. "Like such npcs would actually respond." Unlike world npc, which had a pretty advances KI, custom npc had just a very basic kind of programming, mostly to prevent abuse.

He watched the maids do their work, cleaning endlessly the never dirty halls of Yggdrasil. One of his guild mates designed the maid npc. "Maid outfits are justice to me!" Arashmiel remembered him saying.

He approached a great door and the guards instantly opened the door for him. Npcs aswell. The throne room was enormous, with banners of each of guild that currently resided in Yggdrassil.

Next to the throne sat silently a woman. She had lustroud silver hair and a pretty face. She wore a white dress with gloves and a necklace in the shape of a spider web that covered her shoulders and chest. Yes, she was designed as beautiful woman.

"Lots of work Izebel?" Of course she did not answer. Throne Guardian Izebel supervised the activites of the other floor guardians and was in charge of general management. In roleplay aspect at least. In reality her duty was, as her titel implied, to protect the throne of Yggdrasil and the Overlord, ruler of Yggdrasil. She was the last npc boss in Yggdrasil and for that she was created with immense power. Not that it was needed, no one had ever been able to come this far.

Arashmiel approached her and opened her npc console. A small screen appeared before him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, she was pretty well designed, her setting was multiple pages long, most of the settings only to add depth and roleplay aspects. Whoever designed her, he was pretty obsessed with details. He wouldn´t be surprised if she would even have a favourite food.

Arashmiel quickly scrolled trough her settings. "Huh?" The last entry could only be a bad joke. It read "Nymphomaniac". Arashmiel sighed. Normally he would not mess with a customized npc, especially one that was as well designed as Izebel, but since her creator was offline, he decided to change that entry. He felt pity for that npc. Someone as beautiful, powerful and hardworking, at least from a roleplay point of view, as her did not deserve to end it´s existence with such a degrading attribute, given obviously on a whim and normally without consequence. He pressed his hands on the screen and said "Access." "System override" it respondend quickly, before changing back to it´s normal shape, with the tag "Admin Access." Security prevented people from messing with settings of npc, but as Overlord he had access to every npc that was part of Yggdrasil. He deleted "Nymphomaniac" and replaced it with "She loves Arashmiel." He began to chuckle, "replacing a bad joke with another bad joke, that´s what i call progress." He sighed, he was just like her creator, but at least it was not as tasteless. Or was it?

He closed her screen, sat himself on the throne, and opened the menu.

´23:58:00´

His eyes roamed over the throne room. Each time they ran over a banner, he repeated the guild leaders name. He had spent so much time with most of them, they were not only allies, they became friends.

´23:59:00´

Again he wallowed in memories. He was Blue Beast Arashmiel, leader of Aurora Company Elite Dangerous. "It was a great time, I will miss you guys."

´23:59:59´

He closed his eyes, waiting for the server shutdown.

´00:00:00´

´00:00:01´

Thump.

Pain, the sound of falling and clatter of metal reached his ears.

"Huh?"


	3. Chapter 2: Something begins

**Chapter 2: Something begins**

Arashmiel softly rubbed his forehead. He tried to watch around, but was instantly blinded by the sudden brightness. After the few moments it took his eyes to get accustomed to the change from dim lit hall to bright daylight, he took his new surroundings in.

He seemed to be in some sort of hall or throne room, but it was not as dim lit as the throne room in Yggdrassil. Sunlight poured in trough the great windows and opening to an outside area, a balcony or something like that, he wasn´t sure yet.

Around eight knights were surrounding him. Full body armor, shield and swords pointing at him. Even looking grim, their faces did not hide shock, suspicion, maybe even fear. But one thing was sure, if he would do anything rash, they would strike him down. He sat himself and concentrated lightly at one of them.

Buro Strepsalis  
Level 82  
Kingsguard of Tahmut Empire

The argumented reality informed him. It was an ingame tool that allowed players to identify each other, NPC, monster and items. He looked at another.

Toch Dandobe  
Level 79  
Kingsguard of Tahmut Empire

His eyes wandered from one to another. All of them were around Level 80, not bad for a human NPC. Top human knights were around that level, and their job as "Kingsguard" supported this. Of course, even all of them together were no match compared to his absurdly high level. PC were just that much stronger than regular NPC.

They were shouting something at him, but he could not understand them. Him standing up did not really help solving the situation. Since he could not understand a single word they were talking and them being no danger for him whatsoever, he did the best thing he could do in that situation. He ignored them.

His eyes wandered around the room he was in, and he confirmed his previous suspicion. Judged by the decoration in this room, like the banners, statues and greatly oversized pictures of royaly dressed people, this seemed indeed as some kind of throne room. The throne with the woman on top had of course little to do with his sherlock-like conclusion.

Testalia Tahmut  
Level 15  
Princess of Tahmut Empire

She appeared around 19 years old, with long brown hair that fell behind her back. Her clothes were fine woven and decorated with all kinds of ornaments, indeed fit for a princess. On her head she was not wearing a crown, by a golden tiara. The only thing that ruined the absolutle royal posture of hers was her heavy breathing and the sweat that glistend on her milk white skin.

She shouted something, judged by her tone it was an order. It was a nice change compared to the previos "do something weird and i kill you"-tone the guards had used. Clatter of metal behind him indicated that the guards had moved, but not towards him, more like away from him. He turned around and found himself facing a young maid.

Lasa  
Level 8  
Maid

The maid attire gave away her position, even without the AR. She looked at him with a mixture of nervousness and fear, her outstreched hands, which were stretched as far as possible, held a pillow. It was obvious she wanted to do with him as little as possible.

And top of that pillow laid a single ring. ´I heard of rushed marriages between nobles, but this is ridicilous´ he thought to himself. Showing that on his face might prove troublesome, so he did his best to supress his grin, and he could feel his deception skill working.

He took the ring in his hands and inspected it.

Ring of Language  
Tongue

Ah, now it began to make sense. The tongue-enchantment allowed to speak another language. He remembered the one quest where he got a tongue-enchantment to talk with mushrooms, while watching the still nervous maid doing the ´put the ring on your finger´gesture.

For a moment he wondered what kind of funny and flustered face she would do if he acted like he had not understood her. That would most likely be quite entertaining, despite the knights that were still glaring daggers at him.

But in the end he nodded and began putting the ring on his finger. Another desire proved to be stronger than his desire for trolling and entertainment. The game servers were supposed to be shut down, and yet he stumbled into some kind of event. He wanted to know what was going on.


	4. Chapter 3: NG

**Chapter 3: NG+**

"C-can you understand me?" the maid Lasa asked him, still horrible nervous. "Yes" Arashmiel replied. Something which seemed to make her very happy, because her face lit up quite considerably, with her duty obviously done, she bowed quickly and took a few steps back. It was somewhat rude towards him.

"I welcome you" princess Testalia exlaimed loudly. It was obvious who was the one she was talking to, so he turned around, and nodded his head towards her, indicating that he had understood. "So? Mind explaining?" "How dare you?" one of the old people next to the throne shouted, people he had noticed just yet. "Even something like you should know it´s standing. You should..." "Enough!" The princess interrupted the rambling of the old man. `Most likely one of her advisors´ Arashmiel thought to himself. "He is new to this world, it is to be expected that he does not know our customs." "But princess!" "I said enough." "Yes, this one apologize." The old main said and bowed. `Lackey´ Arashmiel thought to himself.

Testalia turned towards Arashmiel again. "How do you feel?" Arashmiel looked down upon himself and finally realized why they were acting like they had a monster in front of them. He was not wearing his armor, only simple brown pants and a brown shirt. Unfortunatly for him it ended at his shoulders, which exposed his arms. In armor or even in normal clothes he would appear human, but in revealing clothes like that, it was exposed how much of that was not true.

From his shoulders downwards to his fingertips his arms were a combination of darkgrey metal, wood and leather, but no flesh. The same goes for the lower half of his thighs down to his toes. This was by no means a purely cosmetic effect, but rather a form of equipment unique to the artificer class, which was his main class in the multiclass system of Illyria Online. But this was not the only change. A metal brace along his spine was covered by his shirt. There were other changes as well, but they were not visible, and some only gave boni to attributes or skill, while others were complete roleplay. But something else was exposed trough the pretty open, unbuttoned shirt he was wearing. Part of the Black Shell, a subdermal body armor in the form of a bulletproof vest, and the scar along his collarbone, both part of his artificer class, aswell the burnlike scar that covered his chest, a race feature.

Armored he may look like human, but he was not. Or rather he was, but his avatar was not.

He quickly checked his HUD. His level was fine, both his health and mana were low, but that was most likely because of his lacking equipment. He concentrated and opened the menu, while moving his arms and legs like checking as if they were moving fine. For others, browsing through his menu, would look like he was staring into nothingness. Even in front of NPC that felt awkward and embarassing, so it quickly became a habit to do something while checkin the menu He quickly scrolled trough his character window, his attributes like strength and endurace were mostly fine, trough his skill window, his skills like diplomacy and perception were fine too, trough his abilities, all martial styles and spells were there. True, all of his attributes and skills were greatly reduced, but again, that was most likely because of his lacking equipment. So apart from his equipment, he was just fine. `Feels like new game plus to me. New beginner and horribly overpowered´ he thought to himself. His avatar was mostly intact, but his equipment was utter garbage, even beginning with level 1 he had better equipment.

"I feel fine" he finally answered the waiting princess. "Lord Ewer" Testalia commanded. "As you command." A around 40 year old man bowed before her and he and his two followers were approaching Arashmiel, his followers carrying some kind of table, which they placed before Arashmiel. Lord Ewer was tall and despite his age in topform, when he was younger he must have seen many battles. No, even now he was a great warrior. The table had a strange stone tablet on top of it. "Please place your... hand on top of it." Arashmiel did notice the stumble. Even for his Artificer Limbs the term hand was just fine.

But Arashmiel did not comply immediatly. Everything was incredible streamlined, apparently everybody knew what they had to do. No one explained anything, which was unusual for events of this scale. They summonend him, they be joyious that he summoning succeded, that all of their worries were over. Or something like that, yet it seemed they wanted to just get it over with. Most players would appreciate that, but it felt somewhat forced and unnatural. And it annoyed him. He was the player, they were NPC, he was important, they were a series of code, everything existed to let him and the other players enjoy the game.

"Is something the matter?" Lord Ewer asked with a raised eyebrow. The guards who finally began to relax a bit tensed once more and even Lord Ewer´s hand wandered to the longsword on his belt. "No, nothing." Arashmiel replied. Deciding to just play along for now was most likely the right course of action.

He placed his hand on the stone tablet and felt a fine tingle in his fingertips. After a moment, a screen appeared, like floating in the air. Arashmiel could feel the tension in the room like everyone was waiting for this to happen. Especially the princess. Her posture crumbled a little bit and gave away her true feelings. Tension, expectation and, Arashmiel might be mistake with the last one, because it was unexpected, but it seemed like hope.

He watched at the screen and neither the letters nor the numbers were ones he knew, yet, he could read it just fine, like they were translated in his brain, most likely the effect of the ring. But something was strange. He was often under a tongue enchantment, but this time it felt so incredible...natural. He could feel the goosebumbs forming on his skin.

Lord Ewer sighed visible, before he informed the others about the infos on the screen. "Arashmiel, level 1, no gifts."

Arashmiel watched the princess and what he saw, for some reason, troubled him greatly. The hope he had just seen on her pretty face, which lit her face up like a child´s on christmas, was gone. She sunk into the throne, disenchanted.

Apparently, he was a failure.


	5. Chapter 4: The Princess s Lament

**Chapter 4: The princess´s lament**

"With your permission, your highness" Lord Ever said loudly. This was not a question, he had already decided what to do. Testalia gave him permission with a wink of her hand, a wink that delivered one message `get him out´. That her high hopes were not satisfied was really not his fault, and definitly no reason for such unprincesslike and rude manners. "If you would follow me..." Lord Ever said towards Arashmiel and began walking away. But after a few steps, he stopped. He noticed, someone was not following him.

When he turned around Arashmiel stood exactly where he was before, arms crossed. "I will not go anywhere, until someone tells me what exactly is going on." Yep, he was fed up. Until he would get some answers he would go nowhere. `Let´s see if the devs considered this possibility or if the AI would go into loop.´

"You dare?" one of the guards began to shout and placed his hand on Arashmiel´s shoulder to shove him out the throne room. If he would resist, they would simply use force. "Now get moving or else..." "Or what?" Arashmiel said as he pushed away the hand on his shoulder, forcefully enough that a loud metallic sound could be heard as Arashmiel´s Artificer Limb collided with the guard´s armor, then he turned towards the princess. "You summon me from my home to...i don´t even know where this is and then intend to push me around. The least i deserve is some answers." "You little...!" one of the guards began shouting as he sheated his weapon and draw a small club from his belt. This club was wrapped around in leather. `Not to injure me, just to beat me into submission, huh. Good luck buddy.´

Arashmiel fell into combat stance. That would surely be an unexpected end of whatever event he found himself in. "Enough!" a commanding, female shout silenced the commotion that was spreading trough the throne room, and everyone turned towards Princess Testalia, who had regained her royal posture. "Guards, stand down!" "I am sorry, your highness." The guard apologized while bowing. He then threw Arashmiel an angry and hateful glare, before he regained his position between the other guards. `Don´t glare at me like that, it´s your own fault.´

Testalia shifted her eyes towards Arashmiel. "Yes, you are right. I apologize. Telling why you are here is the least we can do. My name is Testalia. I am the princess of the Tahmut Empire. This is is the throne room of the imperial palace in Tatania, the capitol city." There was a pause, she was giving him an opportunity to both progress what he just learned and speak up his mind. But Arashmiel said nothing, his face showed no movement, he simply waited for her to continue. "Before i continue as to why you are here, you have to know something first. A special kind of evil plagues this world. The Demon King." `Ok, that seems important´ "The Demon King is a supreme evil, with immense power, no human can hope to stand against him. Only the mightiest of the dragons can match his power in combat. Even if defeated, he always returns. After a thousand years the Demon King is ressurected, no one knows why, or how. This is what we call the Demon King Cycle. And this is by no means a simple fairytale, but a matter of fact." Again Arashmiel stood quietly, waiting to hear the rest of the story, but he could get a rough idea what he was supposed to do. Gather a party and kill this Demon King raidboss, events finished, drinks for everyone.

"Next to our empire is the Maximiliana Kingdom. Not our enemies, but not our allies either. Passed down in the Maximiliana royal family is a secret ritual, created by their ancestor, Yamato Maximiliana." `Yamato?´ "With this ritual they are able to summon a hero. Someone so powerful, that he can not only trump even the highest demon lords, but the Demon King himself. This hero is supposed to defeat the demons and defend all human kingdoms. But there is no denying that the Maximiliana Kingdom has the greatest influence on this hero, and uses it to strengthen their position. So, of course, they do not share the details. Family secret, national defense secret, so they say. Hypocrites! But i do not intend to rely on the mercy of others to protect my people. This is why we try to recreate this ritual." `Recreate? You mean you stole it.´ "It is not yet perfect, but it is just a matter of time." Again Testalia gave him a moment to process everything he has learned so far. And this time, he reacted.

"And that is why i am here? You want me to defeat the Demon King?" Testalia sighed. "Unforunatly it failed again this time. I am sorry, but you do not have the strength to fight. You are not the one I intended to summon."

For a moment he wanted to show her how strong he was, that this strange stone tablet was defect, but he decided against it. Not yet, he still wanted to test the AI by trolling a little bit more. "Then send me back. It seems I am of no use to you, then send me back home." Testalia closed her eyes for a moment as sadness washed over her face, even if just for a single second. "I am sorry, it is not possible. There is no way you can return to your world. Not even the Maximiliana royal family knows how to send you back. It is best if you were to accept this world as your new home."

She glanced at him, and in her eyes and face delivered one message, I am sorry. Arashmiel thought of maybe falling to the ground, shocked. Or maybe throwing a tantrum, how she dared to kidnap him from his world. But decided against.

The AI was pretty good, reacting believable to all his actions and questions. The princess and the guards were credible, especially their mimic and gestic. And the script was something new. Being summoned and NOT being the hero. All in all, he was satisfied with the event. And so he decided to play along, at least for now.

So he simply shrugged his shoulders. "So, what will happen to me now?" She seemed surprised that he accepted the fact just like that. "In the next few days we will test your abilities and skills. Even if you are just level 1, you have potential for growing. Then we will decide what will happen to you."

Arashmiel turned around to the waiting Lord Ever. "Lead the way."


	6. Chapter 5: Revelation

**Chapter 5: Revelation**

"I admit, you are not exactly what i had anticipated", Lord Ever said as he sligthly turned towards his follower. Currently he was leading Arashmiel trough the hallway. Arashmiel simply shrugged his shoulders and then continued to watch the palace. He had not anticipated this server-shut-down event to be this detailed. `Did they recycle unpublished maps and characters for that? If not, it would take a really long time, waaay over the top for a final event.´

"And you seem to accept the fact that you can not return home pretty well. Do you have nothing worth returning for? A home, family?" Arashmiel chuckled softly. "No point in crying over spoilt milk." "Spoilt milk?" Lord Ever raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It means there is no point in crying over what has already happend. No one can change that." Arashmiel explained confused. This was the first time he had explain a proverb to an NPC, most common proverbs were programmed into NPC database. "Besides, you already told me I can not return, so why rack my brain and nerves about something neither of us can change." Lord Ever was silent for a moment. "True. You are a wise man." Arashmiel began to laugh. "Hahaha. I wouldn´t say wise. Let us just say that I have more experience than you give me credit for."

Of course, this was both truth and lie. Truth because he had indeed more experience than a level 1 character and that in reallife he was way older than his avatar looks. And lie, because his calm was actually a facade. This was just a game, injury and death were just variables, a game mechanic. He could not get really hurt so there was no reason for him to worry, no matter what the NPCs might say. Besides, soon this whole event will end and he will wake up in the real world. `I should have a few hours at least, maybe I should tease the princess a little bit more.´

He began to snicker to himself. "Is something the matter?" Lord Ever asked. "No, it´s nothing", Arashmield replied, grin all over his face that showed his amusement " I was just thinking..."

Arashmiel stopped midsentence and midstep. He turned around and began searching for ... something. The guards? Two simple guardsmen were escorting him to his destination. Were they the reason? No, they were suspicous of him and most likely thought him a disappointment like the rest, but they were not trying to attack him, it was not his [Dangersense] skill that had kicked in. It was something else. His eyes scanned the surrounding area. But found nothing. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, the decoration on the wall, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. And yet...

"Arashmiel?" Lord Ever asked as he noticed that Arashmiel was not following him anymore. And the way he watched around in alert did worrry him. "No...it´s nothing", Arashmield said and began walking again. Must have been his imagination.

-x-

Lord Ever was still guiding Arashmiel trough the palace. `Just how long can this palace be, and where does he guide me?´ He was starting to get impatient, this was like an escort quest, but even worse, because he was the one being escorted, how embarrasing. The polished and decorated walls had stopped some time ago and made room for much simplier walls of grey stone. Apparently this was a hallway that fancy and noble guests would not see.

Again.

Arashmield stopped and scanned the surroundings. But again, nothing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. And again it was not his [Dangersense] that had kicked in. Was the danger hidden behind skills and magic? A fine tune, like altering the zoom on your camera, hummed in his ears, as he activated his [Ocular Implant] skill, and he could feel how his irises changed from their normal human appearance into something that looks more mechanical.

The [Ocular Implant], when activated, greatly increased the [Percpetion] skill related to the vision and showed details not perceivable for the naked eye, like the flow of magic. It also greatly increased the details his AR gave him.

He must have scared the two guards for both of them took a step back and drew their weapons. And under normal condition this would give him a good laugh, but for now, he had different worries. His enhanced eyes ran along the hall, the walls, the ceiling the floor, but again, absolutly nothing. Not a single trace of magic or something weird. If something or someone was there, he must have been hidden by powerful magic, a very high [Stealth] skill or by a script, if the latter he had absolutly no chance to find it.

"Arashmiel?" Lord Ever asked, and took a step back, hand on his sword when Arashmiel turned around. His strange eyes must have scared him aswell. "Lord Ever, haven´t you felt anything weird?" "Weird? Like what?" Arashmiel didn´t answer, but concentrated on his surroundings again. After a moment, he sighed. With eyes back to normal he said "nothing. Must have been nothing." "If you say so", Lord Ever replied after moment of hesitation. He began to feel nervous. Something was definitly wrong with this one, he thought to himself.

-x-

"Here we are" "Thank you" Arashmiel replied and gave a slight bow to the maid.

Name: Milen  
Level: 4  
Maid

The red-haired maid had been appointed as Arashmiel´s guide after she informed Lord Ever that he had something to take care of. And apparently Arashmiel was not important enough to postpone that. `Rude guy.´

Arashmiel entered the room where she had guided him to and sighed heavily. Room would be a compliment, more appropriate would be prison cell. Maybe it was the dark stone walls that were not to his liking, but this cell was everything but not inviting people to stay here. Metal chains hold a wooden plank, apparently this was where he was supposed to sleep. Metal bars blocked the view trough his "window", a hole in the wall which led some air in, and he could roughly guess for what kind of business the bucket in the corner was.

Arashmiel entered the cell and sighed heavily. Playing along was getting more and more difficult. Was this really the way you treat someone you basically kidnapped not only from his home, but from his world.

"The princess has allowed you to rest for the rest of the day. Apparently to get used to your new situation" she said the last part like musing to herself. "Lord Ever wanted to visit you again in short while, if you have questions please ask him."

Arashmiel took a look around, not that the small cell offered much. "Well, I guess that will have to do. At least the smell isn´t that bad..." he began with a smile on his face, a smile that, as soon as he mentioned the smell, froze on his face.

"The smell..." he began, confusion dominating his facial expression. He inhaled loudly trough his nose. And again. And again. Milen watching him in confusion. After she realized he was sniffing in the room she was even more confused.

"It was just recently cleaned, the smell shouldn´t be that bad" she informed him. "Yes, but I can smell it!" Arashmiel said, like that would explain everything. `No, this is not possible. I shouldn´t be able to smell anything!´ But how was that possible? He did smell the cell, but he KNEW that he shouldn´t be!

His movements stopped completly as he realized something. Smell was what had stopped him when Lord Ever had guided him. This strange feeling, each time was it some kind of smell. But he was so used of not smelling anything, that he had simply not realized. That was simply not possible.

`Wait a moment, if smell, then maybe...´ He focused on one of the cell walls. His thoughts made quite the jump, but he wanted to test something. And the walls were most suited for his test. He approached one of the walls, brought his face close, and licked it. Instantly disgust washed over his face. Yes, not only smell, even taste. But that was impossible as well. The game sphere did not support taste and smell. His thoughts raced.

The more advanced virtual reality became, the more difficult it was for people, to tell apart what was real, and what was not. Logically it was no problem, if you shoot fireballs out of your hands, than it´s a game. But feelings were a difficult story.

After some great milestones in vr technology people began to form some kind of addiction to it. The real world was not enough anymore and they craved of being in virtual reality for longer and longer time periods. The wish to actually LIVE there was becoming stronger and stronger, and the virtual reality became real. Not small amount of them died because of malnutrition. They simple forgot to log out and take care of themselves. Their real selves.

To stop that, a law was passed. The bigger the virtual reality, the greater the regulation to stop that from happening. And only few were bigger than the VMMORPGs. No VMMORPG was allowed to support taste and smell, it was still called full senses dive, but was actually a three senses dive. Additionially VMMORPG were limited by timer. After eight hours of playing it would log off itself. So why was he able to smell and taste? It should not be possible.

`Did they remove the regulation for the event?´ Possible, but not likely. They would not risk the immense punishment connected with that. So what was the explanation?

He began walking up and down in the small cell again, his mind racing.

"Is something the matter?" Milen asked unsure.

He turned towards the maid. Right, he had completly forgotten about her. Maybe she was no NPC, maybe she was a player, one of the admins. Did she observe him, how he would react? Was that some kind of test and he was an unknowing subject. Again, not likely. He could sue them for that, would they risk it?

An idea came him. The final test that he could think of right now.

With a few quick steps he was right in front of her. She wanted to turn around, to run and call the guards, but it was already too late. His presence froze her in place.

With a quick move, his hand was on her chest. And to his surprise it worked absolutly perfect. His metallic hands sank themselves into her breasts. The form, the texture, everything seemed...real.

But that was not possible! Every sexual content was blocked. He should not be able to touch her this intimate. And yet he did. His fingers and hands knead and formed her breasts just fine. `D-cups.´

"Kyah!" her screach brought him back to senses and he realized, he was still sexually harrasing her. He did not even have time to apologize and explain.

Slap!

-x-

With a loud boom, the door was closed, leaving Arashmiel in his cell. The maid´s screach has alarmed the guards who came running to check what was going on. The official version was now, that he tried to assault the maid, but, due to his low level, was unable to overpower her. He sighed, he could not really blame her. He HAD groped her, even if for other reasons she might think.

So there he was, sitting in his cell, trying to understand what was happening. What kind of strange and illegal shut down event that was.

He sighed, he was fed up with that. He really was not in the mood to think about that right now. He would log out and go to sleep.

He opened his menu, pressed the "Log out" button and...

...

...

...

..nothing happend.

He raised his eyebrows. Tried to press the button again...

...and again nothing happend.

Yeah, that was a highly illegal action, to prevent a player from logging out. In a few hours the game sphere would log out itself, and he would definitly call his lawyer. He had lots of humour, and was quite often a troll himself, but this wasn´t funny anymore. Smelling, tasting, sexual content, no chance of logging out it was almost like...

He shook his head. This thought was too ridiculous to be finished.

And yet.

He shook his head again. `Don´t be a moron. That is impossible.´

But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he could not shrug off this thought completly. A small part of his mind could not let go of it. He tried to calm himself, that this was just a panic reaction, his mind was trying to find answers, eventough he already had one, that this was just a strange joke.

And yet.

The more he thought about, the more it seemed possible. It was still just a tiny, insignificant, absolutly impossible possibilty. Next to nonexistent. A leaf of doubt in a forest of surety.

And yet, no matter how small it was, it was there.

And if for a small, tiny moment he would go to great lengths to banish his reason. If he would take all of his logical sense and reason, threw it out of the window and put it down the drain and would do other things with it, only for it to be somewhere else so he had none of it anymore.

Then he might consider it an unreal possibility

And he considered it for a moment.

He stood up from the wood plank bed and walked towards the window. The metal bars blocked his view from the sky and the just setting sun. The metal bars felt strangly familiar to his metal hands.

While he watched the sunset he muttered the one thought that was absolut not possible.

"What if this is no longer a game?"


	7. Chapter 6: Captor and Captive

**Chapter 6: Captor and Captive**

The sound of someone opening the cell door was a nice change for Arashmiel. He had spend almost the whole night thinking and had barely slept at all. Not surprising considering his current situation.

He checked the clock on his UI. 7:44. He smiled as he remembered something bizarr that had happened in the night. He scrolled through his log and found the strange system message he got in the middle of the night.

"00:00 System Message: Attention, the day and night circle has changed. Each day now consists of 28 hours. Please consider this change by planning your adventure."

He was not sure how to feel about it. First he was happy, that he got a system message, which would mean that this was indeed still a game. But now, he wasn´t so sure about that. Why? Because of the time he had spent here.

When he was brought into his cell the sun was setting, it was evening. Now it was morning. Normally the game sphere would log out after 8 hours of playing. This 8 hours had long passed. But he was still in the cell. Were this still a game, that should not be possible.

For now, he decided that this was still just a game, it was just more plausible. And he really wanted to believe that. But on the other hand, he could not deny the changes: being longer ingame, combined with a true full senses dive. This was not something he could simply ignore. This was not something that should be possible. So for now, he decided to play this game in hardcore game style. Meaning? No tango with Death. You die, your character is toast, so avoid it at all costs.

Lord Ever entered the cell. "Good morning." "Morning" Arashmiel replied as he stood up from his bed. "How was your rest?" "Bad." "I see." `Sure, don´t let it bother you, it isn´t your problem, you are not part of the reason I am stuck in this cell.´ He decided to keep this words to himself. It seemed best if he would avoid all kind of trouble.

"I have been asked to escort you to breakfast, but before that, we will visit the training ground shortly. I want you to know what you have to expect." Lord Ever turned around and was out almost out of the cell, when Arashmiel called out to him. Lord Ever turned towards him and noticed only now, that Arashmiel had not moved and seemed not very eager to follow him. He was annoyed that his "guest" was making trouble before the day had even begun. "Is something the matter?"

"I have a few questions." "And this can not wait after we reached the training grounds?" But silence and a defiant stare was all that he got. He sighed. "Fine, what is it?" "By the law of protecting the entity of digitalized beings I have the right to speak with a GM or another person responsible if I have been wronged by you. You have enabled taste and smell and blocked my logout button. This is a clear break of law and as such I demand to speak with a GM immediatly."

Lord Ever looked at him for a moment, on his face only confusion. It was clear that he had absolutly no idea what Arashmiel was talking about. "If I can speak with a GM right now, I will refrain from calling my lawyer and might treat this as a simple misunderstanding."

Lord Ever sighed. Maybe the effects of the summong had been delayed and have caught to him only now. The shock of losing ones home and finding yourself in another world might drive even the bravest of men insane. "I am sure we can talk this out. I guess we can visit the training grounds later aswell, we should get breakfast first, that should..." "I don´t care about your breakfast! I want to see a GM. NOW!" Arashmiel shouted. He was fed up with this weird game.

That´s it, Lord Ever had enough of this stubborn man, he would not allow a failure like him to speak with a noble in that tone. "You want it that way? Very well. Guards!" Two guards entered the cell. "Please persuade him to come with me." A really unfriendly grin spread over the guards´ faces, like they had just waited for something like this to happen. Arashmiel did not move as the guards appraoched him. He prepared himself mentally for what was about to happen, the first test.

One of the guards approached him, swung his weapon and with a loud "Thumb!" it collided with Arashmiel´s head. But Arashmiel just kept standing, apart from the small flinch, no sign whatsover that he just had been hit with a strike that would send a grown man groaning to the floor.

Was he still considering this as hardcore mode? Yes. Was he afraid of them? No.

Most of the night he had spent to check his [Status] in the menu. His level was the same, his hp was the same, a small guard with such a small weapon could hit him the whole day without really hurting him.

Combat log: Sustained 4dmg.  
Combat log: Natural Regeneration healed 3040 hp.

Correction. The guard could hit him the whole day and he would still heal. The difference in level was just that great.

Arashmiel took a step forward, placed his hands on the guard´s breastplate and...pushed him. A loud scream, of both pain and surprise escaped the guard as he crushed against the wall. The guard still had around 40% hp the AR informed Arashmiel. `Good´ He really did not wanted to start the day with murder.

Arashmiel turned towards the other guard, who stood there dumbfounded. It did not happen everyday that someone, who looked like he was barely a man, pushed a fully armored guard away like nothing.

"Ha!" escaped the guard as he realized, that Arashmiel´s green eyes on him. With two quick steps Arashmiel was in front of him. The guard managed to swing down his weapon, but Arashmiel moved his body with a sidestep out of harm´s way. While gliding alongside the guard, Arashmiel placed his hand on the guard´s breastplate and pushed again. Sound of metal on stone echoed through the small cell once more. The guard was left with around 30% hp.

Lord Ever, who began to understand the terrible mistake he had done by underestimating this strange man with limbs of metal, wanted to draw his blade, but Arashmiel was already there. Cold, hard metal wrapped around Lord Ever´s throat, his feet kicking around uselessly when he lost the ground beneath his feet as Arashmiel lifted him without any trouble from the ground. "I have questions, you have answers. Your life for those answers. Sounds fair", Arashmiel said to the struggling man in his grip, not with a voice that might imply negotiation, but with a voice of a man that would not tolerate something different, a man aware of his dominant position.

And then, almost casually, Arashmiel threw him onto the ground behind him, the only way out of the cell was now past him.

Lord Ever groanded loudly, drawing in the much needed air. Anger, for being handled so roughly, and confusion, for the seemingly ridicoulous increase in power, reflected on his eyes as his eyes locked with Arashmiel´s.

"Guards, I would highly advise you to leave", Arashmiel said without turning towards one of the guards. Both guards groaned as they slightly recovered from their crash into the wall, but were unsure what to do. They first glanced at each other, then at Lord Ever. "You may go", Lord Ever said, his eyes not leaving Arashmiel. The guards hesitated, was there really nothing they could do? "GO!" Lord Ever roared, and this time they listened. Arashmield and Lord Ever were in the cell alone.

"Good. Let´s get started. First question. Do you know the term GM?" But Lord Ever just glared back at Arashmiel. He sighed. `Stubborn one, huh? Well, how about a little motivation.´ Arashmiel took a few steps towards his bed and with a single, downward, almost casual swing from his arm, shattered it. With a loud crack the wooden plank he had spend the night on gave in under the force of Arashmiel´s literal iron fist. "When I can do that with wood, guess what a strike like that would do to your bones", Arashmiel said and gave Lord Ever a moment time to review the situation. Then he continued "I really am not a fan of torture. But I need answers. You play along, and you will leave this cell unhurt, and more important, alive. You do not..."persuade" was the word you used if I remember correctly. Then I might see myself persuading you. Your choice." Again heavy silence hung between.

"I ask again, do you know the term GM?" "I do not." Arashmiel took a step forward, grabbed Lord Ever by the throat again and lifted him off the ground. Lord Ever wriggeld in the iron grip and tried punching the darkgrey arm that was holding him, but to no avail. "Before we continue I should make one thing very clear. Not knowing something is not something I will blame you for. But lying to me..." Arashmiel left the sentence unfinished, him tightening his fingers around Lord Ever´s throat was threat enough.

Lord Ever said nothing, just continued to struggle in Arashmiel´s iron grip. "Am I clear?" "..." "I asked if I have made myself clear?!" "Y-yes" Lord ever managed to say, before Arashmiel let him down. Of course by simply letting go of him and letting him fall to the ground. "Good." Lord Ever glared at him while rubbing his sore throat.

"I will repeat my question. Do you know the term GM?" "No, I do not." Arashmiel ignored the spite in Lord Ever´s voice. "Next question. How about admin?" "No..." Lord Ever said, but stopped. He waited a moment and then corrected himself. He was not sure what this was all about, but angering his counterpart while being in such a disadvantageous position was not a smart thing. "I do." "You do?" Arashmiel said, and could not supress the happy, almost hopeful tone in his voice. "The administrator from the Imperial Kontor is a man named Warton Kimberley. He supervises..." "Enough! This is not the kind of admin I am talking about." "I know almost everyone in an important position. If you tell me, what kind of administrator..." "Don´t play games with me!" Arashmiel lashed at him again and Lord Ever prepared himself for being choked again, but this time, Arashmiel´s hand did not connect. His hand stopped a few centimeters before Lord Ever´s throat and Lord Ever was not sure to be confused or reliefed. Arashmiel closed his hand, without grapping anything, relaxed his posture and sighed. "No, you are right. My question was not specific enough. I apologize." Lord Ever stared at him for a moment. He was completly at his captor´s mercy and yet he apologized? This man was just an enigma for him. But that gave him hope. He seemed a man you could talk with. If he would hold out long enough until the guards came...

"Alright, next question. Illyria Online?" "No." "Game Spot?" "I am sorry." "Okama Game Sphere?" "Never heard of it." "Full Senses Dive?" Head shaking "Virtual Reality?" "No."

Arashmiel leaned against the wall next to Lord Ever and with a heavy sigh, slided it down until he sat next to Lord Ever. This was not what he had anticipated. Or hoped for. Both of them sat there in silence for a few moments. Lord Ever dared not to move and Arashmiel was thinking. "Tell me", Arashmiel broke the silence as he turned towards Lord Ever," Is this real? Or is it a game?" "Game?" But the look on Arashmiel´s face made it clear, this was not a joke, he was absolutly serious. And Lord Ever was not sure how to answer that. Silence followed. "I..." "No", Arashmiel interrupted him, "your silence has already answered that." A NPC would not have hesitated, and for a player this was going already to far. There was only one answer, the one Arashmiel had feared.

Arashmiel brought his hand to Lord Ever´s throat. But not forcefully or violently, but rather careful. Lord Ever was surprised by this strange change in mood and for a moment he had prepared himself for the worst. Of course he could not cry or beg for his life. He was a proud lord and veteran of many battles. If this would be his end, he would face it with dignity. And then he was even more surprised as soft light danced around Arashmiel´s fingers and the pain subdued. After a moment, the light was gone, and so was the pain.

Arashmiel gave him a soft smile. "Sorry. I had to know what was going on. I will be honest, I am still not sure though. The future will tell ", he said, more to himself than to Lord Ever as he tried to convince himself. "Is there really no way for me home?" Arashmiel asked after a moment. "Not one I am aware of. I am sorry." The thought of this being real and not a game was turning more and more likely. And that scared him.

Both of them said on the cold cell ground next to each other. Sunshine falling in trough the window the only source of light as both once proud men sat on the cold cell floor and were not sure what to do next, so many questions plagued their mind.

The sounds of heavy foot steps tore trough the silence.


	8. Chapter 7: Tears of the Beast

**Chapter 7: Tears of the Beast**

The leaves rustled loudly in his ears as and the branches stroke violently against him. He raised his arms to protect his head, which let his sides open to the violent attack of greenery. Smaller branches snapped and bigger ones broke loudly when he collided with them at great speed. And then, with a loud "thump" he crashed onto the ground which brought his unwanted fall-from-the-sky-and-trough-a-tree experience to an end. Multiple branches fell on top of him and countless leaves sailed leisurely towards the ground. He groaned loudly.

"I admit, that was not one of my brightest ideas", Arashmiel said to himself as he freed himself from the green stuff that tried to bury him, but made no indication that he wanted to stand up. He simply laid there, and while he watched the leaves dance in the wind, his mind began to wander.

After his talk out with Lord Ever in the cell he was more and more inclined to believe, that this was indeed a game no longer. So when he had heard the guards approaching he made up his mind, he had to get out of there. They surely had not been happy when they had heard that he had not only had knocked down two guards, but also had taken a noble hostage. Sure, he could have tried to fight his way out of there, but he had to consider the possibilty that this guards were indeed human beings. They were not a series of 0 and 1. They were alive. And so was he.

He watched his hands. `Fighting, huh?´ He was not sure he could do that even if he wanted to. To end so many lives. He had never killed before, he was just a normal man afterall.

If this was indeed real, than he should avoid fighting as much as possible. In Illyria Online he was strong, really strong. But he was not sure what value it had here. Maybe level 80 here was a lot stronger than the same level in Illyria.

No, that had been a risk he had not been willing to take. So murdering his way out of that cell had been not really an option, so he had done the next best thing, he fled.

He remembered his thoughts when he could hear the heavy footsteps approaching. The cell had only one exit, trough the door, but had he used that, he surely would have ran into the guards. So he had used another way. Magic.

When he saw no other way out of there, he had used [Teleport] to get out of there. He had panicked, and he was not ashamed to admit that. Yes, he was scared and reacted more on instinct than on clear thought. But who could blame him? He was transported into another world, imprisoned and had a horde of angry guards rushing to stop him.

`Magic still works.´ Yes, when he arrived in the throne room, he had quickly checked his skills, but the thoughts of this being no longer a game had pushed away that thought. Even when he had healed Lord Ever´s throat, that was such basic healing, it can hardly be said to be a spell at all, more like a manifestation of his will, channeling positive energy to heal wounds, so subconcious, that only now he realized, what he had done.

Now, that he thought about that, he realized what incredible risk he had taken with teleporting out of there. Sure, teleporting out of the cell was a incredible effective method of getting out of prison, and might be even an impressive one, but using [Teleport] on instinct was a foolish thing to do. Without clear destination he could have ended up anywhere. In the middle of the ocean, high in the sky, on top of an erupting volcano. That he ended up slightly above a tree, combined with his sturdy body and his high hp pool, was actually incredible lucky. More than once he had died because a misshap happend while teleporting. While he was still ingame, that is. Now...well, a lethal misshap could mean game over. He made a note not to take unneccessary risks and only teleport with greatest care.

Speaking of teleportation...Finally he stood up and began dusting himself off, getting rid of leaves and branches. `Where exactly am I?´ He looked around. He seemed to be in some kind of forest. Trees, bushes and other greenery as far as he could see. Birds above the trees expressed their anger about his sudden intrusion and the noise he had made. A little bit of sunshine managed to breach through the thick canopy, giving the forest a somewhat peaceful atmosphere.

He sighed. Yes, he had successfully managed to get out of the cell, well, apart his rather rough landing, but he was not sure if the situation had not maybe turned to the worse. He may have been in a cell, but atleast he was surrounded by humans. Now he might be in the middle of nowhere.

He thought for a moment, then he got an idea. He opened his menu and then the map. He could see his position and a little bit of surrounding area, but everything else was deep black, indicating unexplored terrain. Like that, he could be close to a village and he wouldn´t even know that. He looked at the name of the area, the map read "Dragon Valley", not very promising. He walked a bit and noticed that black parts of the map were disclosed. `Seems like map and minimap are working just fine. I just don´t get what is happening.´ He sighed, and began walking.

-x-

The blue stream sparkled in the sunshine and dabbled peacefully next to him. He did not know how long he had been following it. With absolut no idea where to go he decided that following it seemed as such as a good idea as every other he had so far, beside teleporting and risking to tear himself apart in the process. The birds sang their song full of live, and together with the stillness of the forest and the soothing stream, nature´s orchestra was giving it´s very best. Only one person was here to listen to it. And this one ignored it, just following the stream, deep in thought.

Arashmiel walked and walked and walked, and while he did that, his mind was racing. And then, after a while, he sat himself on the ground and leaned against a tree. It was not really exhaustion that made him do that, but the simple lack of will to continue.

12:48 the clock told him. Hours had passed since he ended here. In this forest, and by extension, in this world. And he was still here. Since his escape he had only one thought in mind: this is real. The small possibilty of this being still a game was dwindling fast and now he seemed that his only option was to accept this being real as an absolut certainty. In the past few hours he had clinged to the idea that this was just an elaborate event, tried time and time again to log out. He took a glance at the top right corner of his HUD. Pending GM ticket. But now, he began to accept what he could deny no longer.

Yes, this was a different world. This was real. He had been kidnapped from everything he knew and loved and was thrown here. And he had no where to go and no way home.

He pulled his legs to his chest, hugged them with his arms, rested his forehead on his knees and, when this realization started to sunk in, he began to cry.


	9. Chapter: The Beast awakens

**Author´s note:** I decided to continue this story and apologzie for my long inactivity. Please, read, have fun and I would be happy about a short review.  
And another thing, I changed the numbers of the chapter, so it does not look so weird in the selection. That is why after "Chapter 7: Tears of the Beast" is now "Chapter9: A beast awakens"  
This is not a mistake and you have not missed a chapter.

 **Chapter 9: The Beast awakens**

A noise woke him from his sleep, he had fallen asleep without even noticing it. He looked around, hoping he would find himself in his room, but the metallic feeling of his own hands when he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes reminded him of his situation. Judging by the sunlight he had not slept long. Sleeping on your arm is well and fine, but good luck trying to sleep if you arm looks like it would belong to some kind of machine send back in time to kill Sarah Connor.

He stood up and stretched, tried to get the tiredness out of his body. Sleeping as his avatar was a new experience to him, something he wouldn´t mind he never had to made.

The noise again, accompanied by some kind of howl or roar. Everyone with a little bit of reason would turn his back to this noise and run as far and fast as possible, because it took no genius to recognize that sound as trouble at best, danger at worst, and, giving the current series of events, staying away would be the best course of action.

But, after a moment of fighting with himself, Arashmiel decided otherwise. His feet began taking one step after another to the noise, first slow, then he began to slowly increase his speed, until he rushed with all the speed his body could muster, breaking with breakneck speed trough the foliage. He knew it was unwise, but that could not stop him.

He did not thought about why he approached this danger, he simply did. Would he have thought about it, he would have understood, that it was not curiosity that drove him forward. Subconscioucly he regocnized the roar as one of pain, of distress. A cry for help.

-x-

Pushing part of the bush he was currently hiding behind to the side, Arashmiel could finally get a good look at what was happening. A fight.

Young Dragonhatchling

Level: 157

Dragon

Even without AR he had identified one of the contestants as some kind of dragon. If he would have to describe him with a few words, he would call it a "winged raptor on steriods." Like a raptor it stood on it´s rear legs, unlike most of the dragons he knew, who stood on all fours. But unlike the dinosaurs this dragon was way more muscular. The scales where black, even if this was now somewhat difficult to tell, great parts of the dragon were covered in dirt and blood, some fresh, some dried. And even if the AR said "Young" he was still a huge beast, twice the size of an elephant at least.

Mature Treemite

Level: 208

Monster, Insectoid

This was a creature Arashmiel had never seen before. It somewhat resembled a mantis. It´s body was covered in green chitin and it stood on 8 legs. Where a normal mantis had a pair of claws, this creature had two pair of arms. One, the smaller one, had claws like a mantis, but the larger pair of arms was armed with what could only be describe as giant chitin clubs the size of big tree logs. No, not clubs, battering rams. When not in use, it rested them on the ground, due to their size it was most likely difficult to carry them around, but the power of those must be enorm. The greatest difference between treemite and mantis? It´s size. The Treemite was even larger than the dragon.

With a quick glance it was clear how the fight would end. The dragon´s hp had sank down at around 15%, while the Treemite still stood at proud 60%. The dragon would lose.

And Arashmiel was not happy about it, he wanted the dragon to win. But there was nothing that could be done anymore.

The dragon´s roar drew his attention. He took a deep breath and exhaled a jet of fire against his oppenent. The treemite lifted it´s loglike arms before it´s body and blocked most of the flames. Chitin turned into ember here and there and became witness of the dragon´s flame. The treemites mandibles shook rapidly as it unleashed it´s insectile scream and charged at the dragon.

Both creatures meet each other again. The dragon pounced at the treemite, who countered with a swing of one of it´s massive arms, followed by a strike with the other one. The dragon roared in pain, he had doged the first hit, but was hit by the second. The bulkyness of the arms made wielding them difficult, and the dragon used the chance that presented itself to him. Again he pounced at the treemite and this time, he succeded. His claws dig themselves deep into the treemite´s chitin armor and he sank his teeth at his oppenent´s throat. The treemite´s howled in pain and it´s smaller arms scratched at the dragon, the claws cutting deep trough scales and into the dragon´s soft flesh, drawing fresh blood, but the dragon did not let go. He only let go for a moment, only to bite again, ripping great chunks of chitin and flesh apart.

The treemite threw it´s body left and right and finally succeded in loosening the dragon´s grip. One of it´s clublike arms came down upon the dragon, who managed to evade the attack at the last moment. The dragon quickly spun around and with a powerful strike his tail collided with the treemite, who tumbled backwards. Again the dragon send a wave of fire against the massive insect. It roared in pain as flames burned it, unable to protect itself with it´s large claws like the last time. The dragon jumped upon the treemite´s back, crawling at it´s vulnerable backside.

Arashmiel smiled, and in his mind he began to cheer for the dragon. Even wounded like that he had incredible fighting spirit, expected of the legendary dragon race. And for a moment hope glimmed, maybe the dragon really still stood a chance.

The next moment shattered this hope.

The Treemite shook of the dragon and slammed him with one of it´s clubs. The dragon roared in pain. Another hit lowered the dragon´s hp to around 5%, the dragon managed to create some distance by jumping away from the treemite, then he staggered and fell. The fight was over.

"Stop", Arashmiel whispered silently. His voice barely reached behind the bush he was hiding behind.

The treemite approached to dragon that was lying on the ground, most likely to finish it.

"Stop", Arashmiel said. Maybe the treemite and dragon would have heard him were they not fighting each other, and much much closer.

The treemite positioned itself next to the dragon´s head, raised one of it´s clubs...

"STOP!", Arashmiel roared and left his hiding place, before he could think that trough. The whole clearing-turned-into-battlefield shook under the intensitiy of his roar that boomed like a thunderclap.

The distraction proofed enough as the treemite turned around to the source of the overwhelming sound. It lowered it´s club and approached him slowly, eying the strange invader.

`What the fuck have I done´ Only now, he realized, what horrible mistake he had done. He was not really the hotheaded type to jump into action on emotion alone, but this time, it just happend. Without him, the dragon would have died and for some reason, he wanted to avoid that. Now that the treemite focused it´s gaze on him, it was even more intimidating than it was before. Compared to it´s body, Arashmiel´s small frame seemed so insignificant. The impulse that had forched him out of his hiding place was gone. Arashmiel´s whole body was trembling in fear.

`Yeah, what a great saviour I am.´ Crippled by fear, he could only stand there and watch as the treemite approached him. Unable to act, he could only watch himself becoming dinner for this otherworld bug. But, after a moment, the treemite simply turned around and approached the dragon once more. Apparently he was to small of a meal to even bother with, and was so irrelevant, that the treemite thought him not as potential danger.

The moment the treemite turned around, he did the same and began to run. `It was a mistake´He just wanted to get out of there, to get away as fast as possible. Just what was he thinking?

He rushed past the bush he had used as hiding place. Jumped over a fallen tree and ran. Jogged past a bolder. Walked on the grass. Stopped.

He had not made it even out of the clearing as he stopped. He turned around. The dragon had managed to stand up, but struggled to keep himself standing, each moment was a fight against gravity as his body slowly began to succumb to it´s wounds. But he was standing and hissed at his enemy angrily, not willing to give up just yet. Arashmiel watched the poor dragon. Even in this condition he continued to struggle, even with the distraction he had made no advance to flee. Not that he would get far in his current condition, but Arashmiel doubted the dragon would have done so, even if he could.

And seeing him like that compelled Arashmiel to do the same. To not give in into the fear, to stand and fight. Young Dragonhatchling. He was young, still a child. And he was fighting. Arashmiel had heard that seeing another one fight would awake your own fighting spirit. Some kind of social evolution thing. But gaining the wish to fight by seeing a dragon fight? That was stuff of legends and myths, that was fantasy. `Fantasy´ he thought to himself. And after a moment, he realized the irony and began to laugh. An honest, loud laugh that echoed trough the forest. Despite the whole situation it was just too ridicilous not to laugh. His limbs and most of his organs were magitech and he had casted [Teleport] `I guess, I am fantasy myself now.´

"Would the dragon do the same for me?", Arashmiel wondered loudly, "most likely not." And he didn´t even care.

"Hey!" he shouted. He was still scared, and what he was about to do was without a doubt one of the greatest idiocies he had done his whole life. And yet, something compelled him to stay, to give the dragon a chance, no matter how small it may be. He knew, running away now would haunt him his whole life.

But the treemite ignored him. "Hey!" he shouted louder. "Don´t ignore me!" he shouted and threw a small rock. The rock hit, there was nothing to it, considering the treemite´s size, but he doubted the treemite had even noticed it. It just kept approaching the dragon to finally finish him off, ignoring Arashmiel completly. Arashmiel grabbed a thick branch and charged at the giant insect. "Don´t fucking ignore me!" he roared as he brought the branch against the massive legs of the treemite. The branch broke like a twig as it collided with his massive opponent.

Finally the treemite noticed him and turned around it´s head. But it simply pushed him away with one of it´s legs, like one would flick away a fly. For Arashmiel it felt like being hit by baseball bat, swung by a gorilla. He flew through the air, before he landed on his back. Apparently he was just a nuisance, not worth any more than that.

Seeing he would achieve nothing like that, his mind raced. There must be something he could do. Right, magic! Magic worked. With that he surely could do something. He stood up took aim and began his chant.

"Mag Cul..." A magic circle appeared beneath him and around his outstretched arms and light illuminated, but then, the magic circle shattered, like glass would shatter, and the light died out. "Mag Poe..." But again the arcane structure he was weaving shattered. "Mag Erit Udks..." Three time´s the charm? Not for him. "Hocus pocus, abrakadabra now work you piece of shit!" He fell to his knees and rammed his fist against the ground in anger. He couldn´t do it. He could not remeber the chant. What an immense failure. He had spoken it so often, in the cell he had used it on instinct and now he could not even remember. Anxiety has banished it from his memory.

What a pathetic fool he was. He had always took pride in his ability to stay calm and collected, that´s way he was such a good groupleader and tactician, whole Illyria Online knew him for that, not for his physical or magical capabilities. Next to nothing could disrupt his concentration, he could control the flow of combat. That is what he had foolishly believed. But now, when this was no game any longer, when this became real, he could not act straight, only act on his emotions.

And his chant? He could not remember it. The only time when it was truely of importance that he he did something, when it really mattered, when a life was at stake, and he could not even remember his chant.

The treemite had reached the dragon. The dragon was in no condition to fight, not even dodge. And Arashmiel could do nothing but watch the poor creature getting killed.

He gnawed his teeth in anger. Was that really it? Was that the best he could do? Was that as far as his fighting spirit goes? Was he really at his wit´s end?

No, that could not be, he refused to accept that.

He tried to calm himself, tried to remember all the times he had fought when this was still a game. This treemite was only level 208. This was child´s play for him, he was able to squash it like the bug it was. He just had to calm down. He took a deep breath.

And what happens next surprised him. A sudden calmness enveloped him. Clarity filled him, and he could see the sitation in a new light. It was like he had stumbled sleeping trough this world until now, but now, he has finally awoken. Uneasiness, fear, anxiety, all gone. They had no place on battlefield, and especially not here. There was nothing to be afraid off, he would fight and he would win. This was not a possibility, not some foolish wish of someone who took strange pity on a wounded dragon. This was a fact. With renewed vigor, he raised to his feet and faced the back of the treemite and the dragon, one of them would die, and it would not be the dragon. Anger and despair were gone. He was calm and calculating.

He remembered his training, the words of Master Kelos "Observe, assess, act"

Much later he would fully understand the extend of what just happend, what it would mean for him. That he had changed much more than he was currently aware of. How it would affect him and his future.

But not now.

"Mag Cul Nos Poe Dan, [Chains of Light]"


	10. Chapter: Suit Up

**Chapter 10 Suit Up**

Author´s note: Yes, the words he uses are indeed from Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.

Glowing golden chains of pure light shot out of the ground and bound themselves around the treemite´s frame. With a loud screech it tried to fight them, but to no avail as the chains hold firm.

Arashmiel watched the futile struggle for a moment, just to make sure everything went as planned. Then he turned his attention towards the dragon.

Using his [Dimension Hop] abilty he disappeared from his position and reappeared between dragon and the chained treemite. Like in the animes he had watched about battling space monkeys that destroyed entire planets in their battles.

The dragon backed away slightly as he suddenly stood before him, but it´s grievious wounds did not allow to taken even a step back.

"Drem yol Lok. Zu´Ul Arasshmiel, Briinah fin Dovah. Zu`Ul Fahdon. Loosst auss Ahran kriin fin Krid."

Greetings. I am Arashmiel, my sister of dragons. I am a friend. You have great wounds from your brave battle.

He did not even realize that he was not talking in the language of the humans of this world anymore, nor in any language of earth. No, subconsciously he had changed to speaking draconic, with it´s typical hard consonants and hissing sounds.

And just as subconsciously he had realized that the dragon was indeed female, a young girl to be precise. Where he had first only seen a scaled lizard, he was now aware of the fine traits of a young dragoness, just as easily as he could differentiate between a boy and a girl of the human race.

The dragon widend her reptile eyes in surprise, she had not anticipated that someone would interfere in her battle, let alone someone who would speak draconic. For a moment she indeed mistook him for a dragon who took the form of the lower races, but the smell that invaded her nostrils told her that this was not true. He smelled similar to dragons, but still different.

"Mag Cul Nos Poe Dan Nobis, [Heal]"

"Mag Cul Nos Poe Dan Nobis Erit, [Regeneration]"

With two healing spells Arashmiel took care of her wounds. Despite it´s simple name [Heal] was a tier 6 spell, [Regeneration] was even tier 7.

Light embraced the wounded dragoness and most of her wounds disappeared as [Heal] restored her wounded body. The rest of the wounds began to close themselves quickly as [Regeneration] did it´s work. While the instantanous healing of [Heal] was higher than that of [Regeneration] the latter restored more hp with an added healing over time effect.

She inspected her body in confusion. First her limbs, then her tail and then the rest of her body. But no, the pain and the wounds were mostly gone. Finally she raised herself completly from the crouched stance the wounds had forced her into to her full glory. Wings spread afar she unleashed a powerful roar which had one message, she was indeed ready to battle once more. Arashmiel smiled. Dragon or not, she was still a child, healthy, energetic and brash.

His smile vanished as he turned around to the still bound treemite. A wink from him and the [Chains of Light] that had bound the treemite shattered into millions of tiny golden sparks that shortly illuminated the area before vanishing. The now freed treemite screeched it´s freedom into the world. If it understood what whas happening or simply was fed up with him, Arashmiel did not know, but he returned it´s glare, unfazed by all it´s display of size and strength.

"I do not know if you understand me," he began talking, and when the treemite quieted down a bit he knew it had heard him "but I advise you to leave this place immediatly."

Arashmiel jumped backwards to evade the treemite´s club-like arm that descended where he was standing a moment before. A crater and whirled up dirt and dust proof of it´s immense strength and the killing intent behind that strike. `So much for an answer´ He had almost jumped into the dragon behind him, who roared at the treemite, apparently unhappy with how it treated her strange savior. The dragon took a deep breath and just wanted to send torrents of fire against the treemite, but a "Ssaraan!" stopped her. "Ssaraan, Briinah" Arashmiel repeated, and shook his head, beckoning her to not engage the enemy. She had lost once and, even with her mostly restored hp, he was afraid she would loose again. The difference in power was just to great, the treemite was not an enemy she could beat.

His next words confused her even more. "Zu´u fen koss Krif" I will fight. The dragon shook her head violently. She did not want him to fight. For her, he appeared as just one of the many lower races that populated this world. They were vastly inferior to dragons, a fact that was proven many times in the past. Even a young dragon like herself knew the stories of her ancestors that had battled the demon kings of the past and their hordes, because the lower races were no match for them. She was young, but she was still a dragon, and if even a dragon like herself had lost, he had no chance of winning.

Arashmiel smiled as he realized why she did not want him to fight. He placed one of his hands on the side of her head and began to pet her lightly. He could feel warmt and comfort radiating from her scales into his fingers. The touch was calming, it was so incredible familiar.

He was touched that she was apparently worried for him, but there was no reason to be. "Vo´sskribi, Briinah. Pah fen koss Morokei" Worry not, sister. Everything will be alright"

He opened his [Menu], then his [Inventory].

Soft glow wrapped around his entire frame, and after a moment, he was no longer dressed in rags that would put level 1 adventurerers to shame.

The winds played with the fabric of his white cloak and his blue military beret and his black hair swayed lightly in the breeze.

He pushed his cloak, that was slightly obstructed by the shield he was carrying on his back, over his shoulders, so it would not hinder him, and it instantly reformed to a cape. The blue, richly ornamented armor sparkled lightly in the sunshine and the sound of metal on metal and the rattling of chains accompanied each of his sure and confident steps as he appraoched the treemite.

The combat harness he wore over his armor was of blackleather and consisted of a belt around his hips and four diagonal straps. Two were running diagonaly over his breastplate and two over his back and shoulders. All four joined in a lionhead belt buckle on his breastplate. The straps and his belt had multiple smaller bags and pouches for different utensils he might need in combat, like potions, oils and bombs. A sheath for his swords was hanging from his belt.

Two pistols were strapped to his thighs, but he payed them no heed, he would not need them.

The Silvertaurus twinpistols were greenish silver in color, with a triangular gun barrel. Even if they name was twinpistols they worked actually like revolvers, each of them carried 6 shots.

His right hand reached towards his beret and drew it into his face. With a slight blue glow the fabric reformed and hardend around his head and face. A moment later the fabric was gone and Arashmiel could feel the heavy metal of his roman style helmet, a projecting bar covering his nose gave it a Y-shaped opening for eyes and mouth and it´s red helmet plume waved like a red ponytail in the wind. Green vulcanglass covered his eyes down to his nose, so only his mouth was uncovered.

His left hand reached behind his back and grabbed his shield. Instantly the magic bindings that hold it in place gave in. With a quick motion he slid his hand in to straps of the shield.

Lea, the Palm of Protectionwas a purple colored heater shield, which it´s typical flat upper side and slightly pointed lower side. Beside the runes that covered it´s frontside, three purple crystals decorated it, two on the edges of it´s upper side, and one at the end of it´s pointed lower side.

His right hand grasped the hilt of the sword hanging on his waist. It responded with a soft metal ring as it glided out of it´s sheath

Ambra, the Fist of Fury was a golden-blue longsword. The crossguard was shaped like angel wings and in the middle, a glowing sapphire was embed into it. Crossguard and hilt were ornamented with gold. The blade itself was of a rich blue, with a single golden, rune covered line winding around the blade like a snake.

Armed and armored.

Ready and dangerous.


	11. Chapter: Like a boy before you

**Chapter 11 Like a boy before you**

The treemite roared and raised one of it´s clublike arms. Arashmiel calmly raised his shield to meet his enemy´s attack. And like a giant hammer it decended upon him. And like a not so giant anvil he took the blow. For a short moment worry filled the dragoness, but then worry was replaced by surprise.

Beneath the giant weaponlimb stood Arashmiel, his shield above his head, his boots deep in the ground, but completly unharmed. He pushed against the giant extremity, freed himself from the ground and jumped back, creating distance between himself and the enemy.

Master Kelos words: observe, assess, act.

Observe.

He quickly checked his HUD. His hp took a hit, but only minimal, within one minute it would regenerate on it´s own. He quickly operated his menu. His character page. Lea. Durability 599.8/600.

Assess.

The treemite might be a powerful enemy for a normal human, even for a young dragon. But not for him. The difference in power was simply to great. Not only was he of a much higher level but his equipment was also high end, he was the guild leader of one of european top 10 guilds and one of the very few in the entire world who reached Firstborn-rank with one of their classes. He did not think about IF he could beat his opponent, but how he would do that.

Act.

Arashmiel pointed his sword at his enemy. "Mag Cul Nos, [Cycle Beam]" Ambra´s golden blade began to glow a fiery red, before the red wandered towards the tip, where it formed into a ball of flame, which quickly condensed itself until it was only half as big as in the beginning. A large shockwave of heat burned the grass in front of Arashmiel to cinders as the ball released it´s power in form of a laser-like high temperature lance.

The treemite roared in agony when the beam burned trough it´s defenses and scorched it´s inner organs, the chitin armor was easily penetrated, the point of entry surrounded by scorched and blackend chitin.

Arashmiel checked the AR reading. The treemite´s hp was reduced by around 30%. Not bad for a tier 3 spell.

Eventough the treemite wanted to kill him and the dragon, it was not evil, it was a simple beast that followed it´s instincts. He did not want it to suffer needlessly. He would finish this quickly. His next attack would end it.

"[Judgement: Destruction]"

Divine wrath filled him and his weapon. Under the influence of that judgement his damage would greatly increase.

With the sound of a small thunder a green mist-like aura formed around him and beneath his helmet his hair turned green. With [Paramina] his combat abilities skyrocketed.

Powered up like that, finishing a foe that was that vast inferior to him would be easy.

Dust was whirled up when his boots kicked the ground, driving him with intense speed towards his enemy. In a flash, he had covered the distance and jumped into the air.

"[Crusader Strike]!", he shouted and his blade glowed in golden light. Like a hot knife trough butter Ambra glided trough the treemite´s thick hide. The power of the strike was not limited to his blade, but surged trough the entire treemite. Blood spurted out from the wound and the treemite roared in pain once more. Arashmiel stepped onto it and pushed his body away from the enemy. Midair he checked his AR.

Mature treemite  
HP: 0 %

He had won.

He dampened his landing with his knees and shortly after that, with a loud crash, the treemite´s lifeless form crashed on the ground.

He sighed and released the energy that surrounded him. No longer bound by [Paramina] the green aura quickly spread into the surrounding area, before quickly thinning out and vanishing completly.

Arashmiel sheated his blade and placed his shield on his back, where the magic bindings kicked in and held it in place. He placed both of his hands on his helmet and began pushing it off his head. But instead it reformed back to it´s beret form.

He turned around and with calm steps approached dragon again. He smiled softly when she made a step back.

First she had thought him a weak and fragile being, but now she realized just how much stronger he was. With just two attacks he had finished an enemy that she herself could not beat. And he made it look so easy. He was not to be trifled with.

The closer he came, the more tense her body became. She knew, in a fight she could not win, but atleast she had to fight to her last breath, she was a dragon. But when he approached, she did not know what to do. She knew, she would only survive, if he wanted it. But again, he did save her, and called her sister, maybe he was not an enemy. This was her only chance. Her thoughts raced.

He was right in front of her, raised his hand...and began to pet the side of her head lightly.

Her entire form relaxed visibly, apparently he truely meant her no harm. His smile widend when she even began to growl lightly. This was not a threating growl, but a satisfied one, almost a growl-purr.

A loud boom from the skies tore apart the peaceful atmosphere.

Magical glyphs appeared on the sky, high above the clearing. With the sound of shattering glass, one of the seals gave in and a dragon appeared. And then another and then another.

He quickly jumped a few feet away from the dragon and mentally prepared to fight. If they were friendly, that was good, and if they wanted his life, well, then he would make sure they would have to work for it. They had their pride, and he had his.

More dragons decended, more powerful dragons descended and he began to understood how foolish his thinking has been. With each dragon his chance of victory got smaller and smaller, and when the last one descended, he knew, there was no victory to attain.

He glanced at the first kind dragons that had descended, the weakest and most numerous ones.

Name: Doranth, Mature Red Dragon  
Level: 571  
Dragon, Superbeast

Name: Nesenth, Mature Black Dragon  
Level: 589  
Dragon, Superbeast

Dragons like that were many, but nothing that he could not handle. True they were many, but if he relied on his small frame and his speed he had a chance of winning. He alone against that many dragons, that would be very hard, but he alone against a single dragon but that many times in succesion, that was very much doable.

Against them he would win.

The next ones were only a handful, but far stronger.

Name: Gavarenth, Ancient Green Dragon  
Level: 650  
Dragon, Ultrabeast

Name: Kaleth, Ancient Black Dragon  
Level: 661  
Dragon, Ultrabeast

He would get close to his limit, but again, against them, he could win.

Among the many dragons, were a few special dragons, towering over their smaller kin, and the other dragons seemed to protect them. He dared not to overlook even a single one of them, for that could spell his doom.

Name: Frederick Bag von Svarok, King of the Red Dragon Flight  
Level: 790  
Dragon, Megabeast, Boss

His appearance was the one that sprung into Arashmiels mind when he hears the word dragon. A lizard that stands proubdly on four legs that ended in giant claws. His wings spread widely and a strong tail swayed behind his back.

Name: Heiron von Niddhog, King of the Black Dragon Flight  
Level: 783  
Dragon, Megabeast, Boss

He was similiar to the dragoness Arashmiel had just saved. He did not stand on all fours like the red dragons, but on his hindlegs like a raptor, giving him a more viscious appearance.

Name: Maria Vivi von Leviathan, Queen of the Blue Dragon Flight  
Level: 758  
Dragon, Megabeast, Boss

She reminded him of the pictures of the monster from Loch Ness, was there not somekind of ocean dino that looked like that? A creature clearly build for the life in the water, she had not claws but muscular fins. Her long neck carried her head high above her body.

Name: Carl von Lily Lindwurm, King of the White Dragon Flight  
Level: 764  
Dragon, Megabeast, Boss

In appearance similar to the red dragons, but slightly smaller and he had not the typical leather wings that most people associate with dragons, but two pairs of feathery wings.

Name: Meriela von Leila Wyrm, Queen of the Green Dragon Flight  
Level: 757  
Dragon, Megabeast, Boss

Like an asian dragon, she had a long and slender form, almost like a very muscular snake. Her limbs were almost to small for someone her size, yet they carried her form apparently without trouble. Three pairs of small wings were distributed along her body.

They had not only the megabeast tag, but also boss tag. That would be very difficult. But not impossible. One of them he could beat. It would be a hard battle, but he could win, as long as the others did not interfere, because if even two of them attacked him together, he had no chance of victory. He had to prepare to run. He could try to teleport back into the throne room.

His eyes returned to the last dragon. So overwhelming, he had difficulity to look at it, but at the same time, so overwhelming, he could barely look away. And he knew, nothing he would try would work. His fate would be whatever this last one decided.

He had battled countless enemies and could fight the kings and queens of the different dragon flights, but in front of her, it was all meaningless.

She stood on her hindlegs, but completly upright, without the the slight crouch that the black dragons had. Her form towered above the other dragons, her golden scales reflected the sunlight, sparkling beautifully. From her body sprouded five long necks with matching heads.

One was brown and covered in rocks.

One was blue, the water on it sparkled in the sunlight.

One was red, the air danced from the intense heat.

One was a yellow-green, sparks of electricity jumped around.

And the central one was golden like the rest of her body and appeared to be her main head. Or her first head, he was not sure, he had never met a dragon like her before.

Name: Goddess Tiamat, Mother of all Dragons  
Level: ?  
Dragon, Divine, Alphabeast, Supreme Entity, God, Boss

Yep, he was fucked.


	12. Chapter: Burden of Power

**Chapter 12 Burden of Power**

Tiamat´s heads stared at him for a few moments, her gaze held him in place. "Who are you?" she finally began to speak. Her voice was not overpowering or roaring like Arashmiel had anticipated, fitting her massive form and power. No, it was soft and feminine, and seemed strangely mismatched on her.

Arashmield took his baret from his head, fell to one knee and bowed before her. "I am called Arashmiel" he simply answered.

His power would get him nowhere here. He was sure, if she wanted to, she could easily finish him, just like he had finished the treemite. He did not try to teleport, she would easily counter it, of that he was sure, he did not want to do anything to provoke her. And he highly doubted he could outsmart or lie to her. And if neither brawn nor brain worked, he had only one weapon: manners.

If she was pleased with his answer and gesture, he was not sure, but atleast he was still there to ponder about that.

"I now just have your name, but who is Arashmiel? And why do you trespass? I feel immense power from you, are you here to fight with my children?" "No, I have no ill intend towards the proud race of dragons. I did not mean to trespass and I did not mean to offend you or your children, honored dragon. I came here on accident." "I felt your intrusion. To shift space like that takes great power. Do you mean to say that it was a mistake?" The dragons began to roar and discuss among themselves, some even called him liar and intruder. But he did say nothing, just waited patiently. "Silence" Tiamat said sternly. And eventough she had not raised her voice, her voice overpowered the angry roars of the surrounding dragons. Her voice is definitly not normal. "Explain." "Yes. I used teleport to escape, and found myself here." "Escape? With your power you could even fight my children. Did you perhaps encounter a demon lord?"

Great commotion broke out as the dragons began to roar once more. And eventough Tiamat had not raised her voice, Arashmiel could slightly hear her anger in her voice. Apparently dragons and demons were enemies. `I am just glad that I am not one of the demonic races.´

"No, I fled from humans", Arashmiel said after Tiamat had calmed the dragons once more. "Humans?" "Yes, I did not want to kill them needlessly, so I retreated by teleporting." "You fled rather then fighting. Unusual. No, for a someone like you, it might be the reasonable solution." "I did not want to kill needlessly. Eventough they summoned me to this world..." "Summoned to this world?" Tiamat interrupted him. Her voice gave her surprise away. Arashmiel could feel her piercing gaze upon himself, but he was not sure if that was a good sign or not. "Interesting. A flicker of interesting indeed" she murmured to herself.

"Tell me, before you reached this world, have you met someone?" `Before reaching this world?´ He thought for a moment. No, no one came to his mind. He sat on the throne inside Yggdrasil and the next moment, he was in this world. `Does she know how I got here? Does she know a way back?´ "You do not have to answer" Tiamat said, apparently she already knew his answer. And for a moment, she closed her eyes and was deep in thought.

Arashmiel knew, she was deciding what to do with him.

"I admit, you have piqued my interest, worldtraveller named Arashmiel. You came into the dragon valley uninvited and unwanted, but apparently with no illintend. That I do not hold against you. The young nameless child behind you owes you her life. For that you have my gratitude. The blood that has not been spilled and a life that has not been lost form an oath that can not be broken and testify a debt that can not be repaid." `That´s good right?´ Arashmiel thought to himself and hope raised in him. Apparently he had done nothing to displease her. "Yet, your power is a weight that I can not ignore. Balance has to be uphold, this is the way since the dawn of creation."

Immense power gathered around her.

"Please wait!" Arashmiel shouted, but he knew, she had already made her decision. "Please, atleast answer me one question, is there really no way back for me? Back to my world?" Tiamat´s eyes stared at him for a moment, but the gathering of power never stopped. "No. This world is special. It is easy to call someone from outside into this world. It was created this way, but why or how, that I do not know. This is knowledge from the dawn of the beginning, a time where even I was not in existance, and I am older than the mountains that surround us. But to send someone back would need power that surpasses even mine."

He began so smile, defeated. `So there is really no way back for me, huh? To be summonend, to end in jail and then to die, what a short trip in my new life.´ He glanced at Tiamat and balled his fists. He could not win, but would not wait. He would not die like a sheep waiting for the butcher.

He jumped backwards away from her and midair drew his weapon and shield. When he landed, he began to prepare himself.

"[Paramina] blaze!"

With a deafining thunderclap power gathered around him and thick green aura formed around him.

"[Judgement: Destruction]"

Divine wrath gathered in his blade.

"[Stigmata]"

The stigmata on his body began to bleed. The blood quickly flowed on his sword and shield, increasing their power.

"[Legion Overlord]"

A blue ghostly siluette of a warrior clad in armor layed over his form, with a big blue circle hovering behind himself. The circle was surrounded by seven symbols, each indicating one of the [Legion Shards].

"Mag Cul Nos Poe Dan Nobis Erit Usqeue Ad, [Godstrike]"

His blade began to shine.

More spells he did not use, simply because he had no time left. Whatever it was that Tiamat was trying to do, he worried that he would not make it, if he would cast another spell.

The dragons around him roared and gathered power on their own, but Tiamat stopped them. "No, children. You are not to interfere." Then she turned to Arashmiel. "You want to fight?" "The spices of life are the sweetness of love and the joy of battle" he answered, excitement thick in his voice, excitement that he did not bother to supress, for this was all that kept him from running away, eventough he knew that would do him no good. "A very good answer. Keep your iron will, for that is the path to greatness."

Arashmiel was aware that he does not have a chance to win, but he would fight. He prayed to the gods of Baal for a last time. "Valhalla awaits!" Then he charged at the goddess in front of him.

"Farewell, worldtraveller named Arashmiel." She opened her mouths and each of them released a shockwave. All five shockwaves approached him with intense speed that gave him almost no time to defend himself, and made impossible to evade.

Arashmiel concentrated everything on his raised shield. `I´m coming home.´

Then everything turned dark.

.

.

.

His combatlog?

Goddess Tiamat hits you with [Breath of the Beginning].

[Legion Overlord] has been broken.

[Paramina (Blaze)] has been broken.

[Judgement: Destruction] has been broken.

[Stigmata] has been broken.

Warning. (Lea, Palm of Protection) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Ambra, Fist of Fury) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Silvertaurus (right)) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Silvertaurus (left)) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Astil Manuscript) has been destroyed.

Warning. The set (The Blue Beast) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Onyxleather Harness) has been destroyed

Warning. (Chain of the Scorched Bones) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Cloak of Shaed) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Jeweled Signet of Melandrus) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Liadrin´s Fury) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Horn of Valor) has been destroyed.

Warning. (Memento of Angerboda) has been destroyed.

Your hp reach zero. You die.

.

.

.

.

.

.

-x-

When Arashmiel opened his eyes again, a woman calmly smiled at him.


	13. Chapter: A new beginning

**Chapter 13 A new beginning**

Arashmiel sat on a stone near a small lake. His legs were crossed, his fingers intervened into each other, his eyes closed. He was in deep concentration, cultivating his power. A technique that was practiced by his kind. He sat there almost the entire afternoon, away from everyone that might disturb him.

He opened his eyes and sighed exhausted. He needed a break. He stared at his hands and his mind began to wander, back to his fight with Tiamat. At least ten years had passed and yet he remembered it clearly. One simply does not forget how you died. `That was not even a fight.´ After Tiamat had hit him with her attack, he lost conciousness, and the next time he woke up, he was in the body of a child!

Apparently he has been reborn.

Was that Tiamat´s intention? To return him to childhood? Or did she really want to kill him? But then why did he keep his memories. Did her attack maybe kill him and he was just lucky enough to keep his memories. Back on earth he heard of stories were people claimed they had memories of their past life. Was he now one of them? Or did his soul simply wandered into the body of a child on the moment of his death? Or do the gods have other plans with him than dying on that valley?

He sighed. This dual memory was really troublesome sometimes.

He did not only have memory of his 10 years as child and the memory from earth. Now, there was another set of memories. And that worried him greatly. When he played Illyria Online his race was thuata, mysterious humanlike warriors from an island hidden in the mists. Thuata were a prestige race, he got the right to play as one of them because a friend of his was developer of Illyria Online and Arashmiel greatly helped the development for the thuata race. Not with the programming, of that he had no clue, but with the lore and background. And that was the problem. He now had memories of exactly that, the memories of his thuata character.

Memories of a childhood, he never had lived, memories of training he never had, memories of gods, that he did not believe in.

And this memories were just as real as his own from earth. Memories of a time where he played football with some boys from the neighbourhood were just as real as the time where he practised swordsmanship and magic.

Thinking about his time as human, his thuata memories seemed unreal, but if so, he could not tell were they did come from.

Thinking about his time as thuata, his human memories seemed unreal, but if so, he could not tell were they did come from.

His head felt like a big bowl of memories.

And something else troubled him. In his thuata memory appeared a woman, Izebel. She was his oathkeeper. His guardian, his tutor and one of his closest friends. She was his first love. And this Izebel and the one he had created as npc in Illyria Online looked completly identical. But not only their appearance. Thuata-Izebel´s behaviour was the same that he had written in npc-Izebels code. Even their relationships between himself and thuata-Izebel and the one he had written in npc-Izebels code were the same. Would npc-Izebel come to life, they would be the exact same person.

But what did that mean? Which of them was real? Which one of himself was real?

He grabbed his head in annoyance. For ten years he tried solve the mess in his head, but to no avail. Since he ended up in this world, nothing made sense.

If he was still in the same world where he had been summoned to, of course. He could not tell if this was the same world, or how much time has passed between his defeat by the hands of Tiamat and his reincarnation. Did a year pass? Or maybe tens of thousands?

This uncertainity was driving him insane.

He laid down and watched the sky and the clouds. Would he ever find out who he truely was?

He concentrated and opened his [Menu] and then his [Inventory]. At first it felt strange to use such a gamelike feature but with time he got used to it. A small bottle appeared in his hand. It was almost wasteful to use [Legion] like that. [Legion] was the most famous and notorious [Spirit Guardian], to use it as a simple [Bag of Holding] was weird, but it was quite convenient.

Since his rebirth he had lost almost all of his power. Rebirthing has returned him back to level 1, his attributes has been reduced to that of a level 1, and almost all of his skills were gone. But since the alternative of that was death, he gladly paid that price.

After taking a few gulps of water, he sighed. His best times were over. Yes, he could train and fight, get experience, level up and get stronger, but he did not lie to himself, he would never reach his insanely high level again. That was the great difference between a fantasy game, and a fantasy life.

In a game, he could challenge whatever he wanted, the worst that happend ist that he died, and respawned. But if he dies now, there will be no respawn. Even his current situation with his rebirth, he had a feeling that it was Tiamat´s doing.

In a game, he could farm an area, a dungeon or a boss over and over again. They would respawn, he could always grind for experience points and gear, and he had done it countless of times. But if he kills a powerful creature now, then it is gone, no chance of grinding boss monsters or rare spawns. Quests that rewarded immense amounts of experience points did not exist.

He quickly recalled what he had learned about the level distribution in this world. Level 80 was kingsguard level, that was really good, normal people would have to train a great part of their life to reach that level. 100 was high above average, 120 was the territory of geniuses, 140 were a chosen few, beyond that, was the realm of legendary heroes of the past. Arashmiel smiled bitterly. Were he still ingame, he would reach that in three months.

`Was that what Tiamat ment when she said something about balance? Have I been just too ridicioulously strong so she had to make me start anew?´

But it was not all that doom and gloom, a few things he still had.

[Legion] for example. Which was already broken. [Legion] was never meant to be for such low level characters but for high end, and even though it also was reduced to level 1 with reduced skills and attributes, the possibilities were immense.

[Menu] [Character] [Spirit Guardian(Legion)] [Legion Shards]

Arashmiel began to smile. The [Legion Shards] were all there. Immensly powerful entities that he had defeated and that [Legion] had absorbed to alter [Legion]´s abilities. True, he could not use them right now, both he himself and [Legion] were to lowlevel for that, but if he raises his level he might atleast get part of that strength back.

[Menu] [Character]

Classes: Spirit Artificer(Firstborn), Adeptus Astartes (Triple-Master)

Both of his classes were still there. Not even the base classes, but his advanced classes. That was good. Again, most of his abilities were gone with his low level, but when he would rise in level, his abilities would return.

[Menu] [Character] [Inventory]

That was truely a depressing sight. Without a [Bag of Holding] his normal inventory was very limited and was almost completly clogged with the equipment that Tiamat had broken in their fight. All of that was high end gear and he had invested an incredible amount of time, work and money for that, to see it destroyed pained him. Without some very special equipment or the help of special npcs he could not repair it with money, and the magic needed to repair such high grade equipment was really high tiered, it will take quite some time until he gets access to repair magic that can affect it. And even then, it would be useless. His gear had a level requirement, that he would never reach in this life. He sighed. He would never wear this armor ever again. A feeling of loss.

His eyes found the one item he could not identify. (Gift of Tiamat). It´s icon was that of a present box, but why it was there, he did not know. He focused on it and a few buttons appeared. "Inspect Item" "A gift from Tiamat." `Thank you for nothing.´ "Open Gift" "You are not ready to open this Gift." Same as always. He wondered what was the prerequisite to open it, was it a certain level, maybe a certain place, years that had to pass, the phase of the moon or maybe the season? Maybe all of them? He did not know, and the item did not say.

"Guild Bank is only available at level 20" `You stupid piece of crap´ he thought to himself. He could look into the Guild Bank, but not store anything in it or take anything out, which was too bad. He had set the Guild bank setting to "complete access" which allowed the guild master to access the bank of every single member. And the guild master was still him. Aurora Compony Elite Dangerous had a few low level members, and some of their trash equipment would be perfect for the future when he would grow up a little and gain at least some level, and they would not need it anymore anyway, unfortunatly he could not access it yet. He just hoped that it would work when he reached level 20, that would make things much, much easier.

[Menu] [Character] [Skills]

Another depressing sight. Most of his skills were gone. He had grinded so hard for some of them and now this was all gone. Especially his combat related skills he would miss. This world was dangerous after all. He would fight, of that he was sure and without skills, that would be difficult. This time, he was glad he had his thuata memory. This thuata self had been raised in a fantasy world with focus on fighting. He had been trained in combat. If Arashmiel would need to defend himself, this training might save his life.

But not all of his skills were gone. His crafting-related skills like [Smelting] or [Smithing] were still there. For a long time he had wondered why, until he came up with a satisfying theorie. They were pure game skills. In Illyria Online you simple had to gather the ingredients, stand next to an appropriate working station, open your [Skills] window, click the item you want and #poof magic#, the item was added to your inventory. This was purely a game mechanic, it was not required to stand for hours next to an anvil to craft a sword. And he wondered if Tiamat has either overlooked that, did not understand it or did not bother with it. But whatever the reason, he was happy.

Unfortunatly, crafting wasn´t as easy as in the game. He had already tried it. It did not work. This skills worked slightly different here. They were some kind of unknown knowledge or instinct that told him how to do that. Neither his human self, nor his thuata self had ever forged a blade, but ingame he had a high [Smithing]-skill. He simply knew how different metals reacted differently, the steps needed to create a blade, how he needed to work it, to grind it correctly. It would work like that, of that he was sure.

This strange knowledge might come in handy.

For a moment he wondered what would happen when he would return to earth. IF he could return. According to his current information, that was not possible, but he would not give up so easily.

Of one thing he was sure, this world would take a very long time until it would start to be boring. He began to smile with excitement as the adventurer in himself awoke, the same adventurer that made him start with Illyria Online, the same adventurer that drove him to the top 20 of the player ranking, and by extension, the adventurer that was responsible for his current mess. A whole new world with countless wonders waited to be explored by him. He just needed to grow a little more and concentrate on his training for now.

A glowing dot on his [Minimap] approached him, and he knew, he was in trouble. Again.

His still has his HUD, his [Map] and his [Minimap]. And if used right, they were immensly powerful tools. He knew she was coming way before she got close. [Minimap] OP. He stored his waterbottle and waited.

"I knew I would find you here", the voice of a woman said behind him.

He slowly turned around.

The woman appeared to be in her early thirties, she had long pink hair and two bunny ears sprouted from the top of her head. She wore a simple dress, but slightly better than what normal commoners wore. And her calm smile and rather well endowed chest gave her a motherly appearance.

Name: Eru Sesa  
Level: 73  
Humanoid, Beastkin

His AR was also one of the few things that were unchanged by his rebirth. He believed the reason to be that it was game mechanic like his crafting skills rather than actually being a real thing. Furthermore, he did not only still have it, it still worked like he was high level. Normally he should not be able to see her level, the difference in level was just to great. Normally he should only see ? as her level, just like with Tiamat, but he could see her level just fine. Not only that, if he concentrated he could even see a more detailed report, like her exact age, her skills, current status and even her affiliation.

"You were not in class today again."

"I am sorry" he apologized.

"You know, Aaron, if you seperate yourself from the others, then it will be difficult to find friends."

He did not answer.

Right, his new name was Aaron.


End file.
